Multiplex Fun Cub Review

Once in a while, a curious RC creation comes along that’s worth a closer look. The Multiplex FunCub has all the right elements to suggest a great flying experience, but we had to take a closer look for ourselves. See if the FunCub can offer a flight experience that keeps it from getting bullied on the playground for those goofy looking tires…

Intro and Flight Footage

5X5 Review Scoring

Summary

One look at the curious design of the FunCub and our imagination took off. With HUGE tundra wheels and nothing short of absurd flaps, the FunCub makes you think it’s going to fly where many others have feared to tread. Time to get this thing together…

Our assembly of the FunCub went as planned with no notable deviations. Obtaining the recommended CG required us to add about 14g of lead weight to the tail and shove the battery all the way aft but the FunCub is the type of platform that makes the little extra weight go unnoticed. A cavernous interior compartment means you can even step up to a mighty 3300 mAh 3S pack if you want extended runtimes.

Takeoff is pretty much whatever you want it to be. Keep the flaps up and ease the throttle in the grass and let it fly off the ground at it’s own pace, or punch the throttle and yank back on the stick unforgivably and the FunCub will accommodate with some amazing STOLs. The huge, 900 flaps either slow you down immediately or allow you to lift out of heavy terrain. The FunCub definitely is at home on the grass and is a bit of a bouncy, rigid handful on pavement landings…but we’re NOT complaining. You’ll want to traverse the back country with the FunCub and leave the hard pack to those lesser “city-fied” airplanes. This is a rugged, tundra plane that’ll take just about anything you throw at it.

With an included retractable tow hook mechanism (requires another micro servo and an available channel on your radio system), the FunCub is as versatile as it is, well, fun! We spent about 5 packs in a heated STOL competition, with plenty of “oops we got greedy” stalls and flops. The FunCub shook it off and came back for more. This is one plane we’ll be keeping around for a very long time. We’ll be updating the post soon with our float experience, so be sure to check back in the upcoming weeks!

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10 Responses to Multiplex Fun Cub Review

After watching this review I decided to buy one of these, it shipped out yesterday I can’t wait until it arrives. Thanks for the good review, I live in a grassy area and I think this plane will be the ticket!

I purchased the Multiplex Fun Cub kit…..with the Fun cub power pack kit. My question is this…..where can I buy that servo extension wire you talk about in your video……I will be using a Spektrun dx6i Transmitter and an orange receiver compatible with the spektrum. Question two….I need to find connectors (5)that need to be soldered on to the Thunderbird Speed Controller ….What are the names for them and where can I purchase them by the bag hopefully. Thanks again for you help……great videos to!

Servo extensions can be purchased at any local RC hobby shop or online vendor. They are almost always called simply “servo extensions” and come in varying lengths. As for the connectors on the ESC, are you looking for battery or motor side? If battery side, we used Deans Ultra connectors. They can be found online or at your local dealer as well under the same name. The motor side connectors are solder-type bullet connectors. They should have been supplied in the stock power pack. If not , you can purchase them separately as well. Good luck!

excellent video review. i just recently finished my fun cub and have ten flights in, several with floats flying off snow. i would recommend this plane to anyone who wants a good flyer that is a blast to fly.set mine up with the suggested power system which has plenty of power.only thing i did was to swap to a apc 12-6 .using a 2200 mah battery placed near the rear of fuselage about 1/4 from the opening put the cub in the balance zone. muliplex makes a great product, you just have to get use to assembling the plane with only thick ca. check out RCgroups forum for a complete pictorial of the build,it came in handy.take your time when installing and setting up the servos,make sure they are correct before gluing them in.i’m glad i found this site,keep up the great reviews.

Fjmic, I am using a 12×6 APC prop as well, I went down to the 12×6 because when I was flying with my 13×6 I was just breaking too many props on bumpy landings. With the 12×6 I haven’t had any issues and there is still plenty of power for unlimited vertical. I am using the 2200’s as well at the same CG spot pushed back into the fuselage with a 1/4″ of so sticking out of the hole. The fun cub is a great plane, plenty of power and it is my go to plan anymore, I fly it in wind, rain, sleet and snow and she prevails!!

Hi guys…Love your reviews..keep em coming. I’ve been flying a Super Cub LP for almost 2 years now and it’s time to move up, so I’m going to pick up my Fun Cub kit tomorrow and I have a couple of questions regarding the build. What is the best glue to use for assembly? I’ve read of people using medium CA with the kicker and others using a product called UHU Por cement. What did you guys use as far as adhesive is concerned? My second question is regarding the flaps. I’ve never flown with flaps before, so I need to learn. You mention in the video that a person should have a handle on using flaps, but you rate the plane as beginner/intermediate. How is a person suppose to learn to use flaps if the plane is meant for flap experienced pilots? Is this plane not a good model to learn flap operation?

The Fun Cub is a blast. I was flying mine just last week off of water with the float kit add-on. As for the glue, we use medium regular CA but always “break” the finish on the Elapor (EPO) foam first. a little sand paper or a light touch with a Dremel sanding barrel works really well. The factory finished outer foam layer is pretty resistant to adhesives, so breaking the finish allows the glue to soak into the foam pores and results in great adhesion. As for kicker, proper use is necessary. If I use any at all, I always spray and let it dry before applying glue. Some people apply glue and then squirt kicker all over it to accelerate drying, but that can result in the outer surface hardening, getting brittle, and the joint failing. I typically break the surface, then lightly spray some kicker. I prefer the aerosol cans to the pump spray because I can apply a light mist only and it dries faster. Then I apply my medium CA, hold the joint firmly in place for about a full minute and then let the glue cure for another 3-5 before applying any pressure. This has worked flawlessly and I have never had a CA joint fail on EPO type foams. Rob likes to use 2 part epoxy (15min), some guys like polyurethane glues like Gorilla Glue, but I settle back on medium CA for personal preference.

In regards to the flaps, intermediate skills are more in regards to 4-channel experience. If you’re comfortable flying with ailerons, using your rudder for flat turns, and have no control orientation problems you should be fine for flap training. The key is to add just a little at a time during some slow passes and getting used to how the plane responds. You’ll need to apply more power to sustain flight with the flaps extended during a pass and this will help you get used to controlled flap landings. Very easy to stall if you’re not used to the extra power needed to keep the nose up during the glide slope. The Fun Cub is very cooperative when you only extend 15 or 20 degrees of flap, but if you slam them into a hard 45 degree extension, it’s like hitting a wall. Expect the Fun Cub to balloon with the flaps extended. This is something you can either dial out with some elevator mixing in your radio (if capable) or just anticipate and correct manually. Good Luck and Have Fun!

Agreed…the fun cub is a blast to fly, once you figure out the vibration issue. I was shocked to see that no one mentioned this problem. The vibration in the plane was so bad that it appeared that the motor was going to be ripped right out of the fuselage. I tried 3 other prop adapters that day and found one that worked well. The prop adapter I started with is the one that came with the power kit that multiplex offers. I did call Multiplex and was told that there is an issue with vibration, but their remedy to this point was to sell folks the aluminum motor mount. I told him that I had traced it down to the adapter, and his response was “we have never looked at that, it’s something that we need to look into, I’ll pass it along”. I found that the Eflite 5mm prop adapter works very well with no vibration. As for the plane as a whole, I’d buy it again.

Hi,
I am just getting started, and have much of the plane assembled with the same config as you. I had some questions about flaps and ailerons connections to the receiver. Do you use y connectors for both? Seeing that the servos are mounted opposite one another, it would seem to me that a y would be great for the ailerons, but I don’t know how that would work for the flaps. I also have the aurora 9 radio, so is this a feature of the radio? Can you explain your setup? Thanks!

The Ailerons are fine with a “Y” as you mentioned, the flaps will require their own channels or you can use a servo reverser (third party adapter) on one of the servos. We used the following channel assignments on an Optima 7 receiver:
AIL LEFT – Channel 1
ELE – Channel 2
THR – Channel 3
RUD – Channel 4
AIL RIGHT – Channel 5
FLAP LEFT – Channel 6
FLAP RIGHT – Channel 7

I typically connect all servos to discreet channels if they are available on the receiver so I can adjust sub-trims independently, apply differential to the ailerons, etc. You can pull off the same setup as above on the Optima 6 Rx by using a “Y” adapter on the aileron servos. By default, the Aurora 9 assumes 1 aileron servo (2 servos on a “Y”) connected to channel 1. In the function screen, just assign the two other flap channels as FLAP, and assign a 3 position switch or a slider for control of the flaps. Hope this helps!